An In Depth Look at making Decidueye/Golisopod Playable for Anaheim “Going into Worlds and the Anaheim Open, I believe there are 5 very clear strong deck choices. These are (in no particular order): Gardevoir-GX Volcanion-EX/Turtonator-GX/Ho-Oh-GX Metagross-GX Decidueye-GX/Golisopod-GX Greninja BREAK The Gardevoir-GX hype is completely justified. Not only is the card in itself good, but the predicted metagame surrounding it kind of works in its favor with Volcanion-EX based decks perceived as the other deck to beat at Worlds. Coincidentally, Volcanion decks are the perfect counter to Gardevoir’s bad matchup. The new inclusions of Ho-Oh-GX and Kiawe give Volcanion enough prowess to solidify itself as the other deck that you really…
Introduction to Gardevoir, Greetings to Golisopod, and Hello to Ho-Oh “All aboard the hype train! Recently we heard about this card winning a major tournament over in Japan with a very cool list where the structure reminded me a bit of the 2008-2010 “GG” deck comprised of Gardevoir and Gallade and plenty of support Pokemon. Historically, decks that bypass the “1 Energy per turn” rule have always been viable and dominant. We can look back at Blaziken RS decks in 2004, Blastoise-ex FRLG in 2006, Metagross/Dragonite in 2007 and most recently Blastoise BCR which took the 2015 World title. Gardevoir-GX’s Ability Secret Spring allows us to attach an extra Fairy…
Looking at Garbodor GRI/Espeon-GX from Past to Present and Examining its Place in the Metagame “Some of you might recall that I bubbled Seattle Regionals at 33rd place with Espeon-GX/Garbodor GRI. It’s no surprise to me that this version of Garbodor GRI is now the most talked about and feared. Don’t get me wrong, of course Drampa-GX/Garbodor GRI will be a big threat in any and all metagames, but Espeon-GX and the Ancient Origins Eeveelutions certainly offer Garbodor decks a lot more depth. After analyzing and reviewing the Japanese metagame results, the evolution of their metagame was very clear. Garbodor GRI was going to dominate no matter what, and decks were going to have to…
Analyzing the Top Decks from Madison and Birmingham and Previewing Popularity for Mexico City “This is Michael Pramawat’s 1st place list, and I must say it’s beautiful. It combines consistency with techs and when you combine that with an incredibly skilled player, you get a five time Regional Champion. Michael made a few significant changes from Jeffrey’s 2nd place Seattle list by including the eeveelution line with Vaporeon AOR and Flareon AOR. The former provided extra help against Volcanion-EX/Turtonator-GX based decks, such as Azul’s, and gave Michael a lot more leeway in the amount of Pokemon in the discard or on the Bench required for Vespiquen AOR or Zoroark BKT. Flareon AOR allowed Michael…
A League Cup w/Sylveon, The Rise of Garbodor/Espeon-GX, and Misadventures in Seattle “Below is the list I used to win the League Cup, however I will only talk about why I wouldn’t use this deck again in the foreseeable future: As I mentioned before, I chose this deck because I knew I’d be able to capitalize on misplays every round and it happened just like that. My opponents would play into Delinquents, they would try to avoid Team Flare Grunt, and thus hold energy, only to be punished by a Team Skull Grunt or a Plea-GX by Sylveon. As rounds went by, though, and I got to finals, my opponent had finally figured…
When scared, this Pokémon cries. Its tears pack the chemical punch of 100 onions, and attackers won’t be able to resist weeping. (Sobble)
Dark for Toronto, Alolan Ninetales and Garbodor for Seattle “If I were going to Toronto, I think the best and safect choices for an inexperienced Expanded player such as myself to consider would be either Volcanion-EX or Turbo Dark. Both options are very solid and don’t have any clear weaknesses or auto losses that I can come up with. The presence of Gallade PRC in a variety of decks could possibly hinder Turbo Dark a little bit, but other than that, there aren’t any other viable Fighting types besides Primal Groudon (which one-shots you no matter what). Sam Hough’s list from Portland Regionals seems like an extremely safe play for…
Reflection on Preparation and a Misadventure in Gardening from Brazil “Before the International Championship, the Salt Lake City Regional took place and the top tier decks seemed pretty definitive to me; with Tier 1 comprised of Decidueye-GX / Vileplume, Volcanion-EX and Turbo Darkrai decks. Following closely behind would be M Mewtwo-EX, M Rayquaza-EX, M Gardevoir-EX, Gyarados and Lapras-GX. After taking a look at the latest Brazilian Spring Series League Cup Results, no deck stood out as a surprise or something unexpected, but rather it was simply surprising to see M Rayquaza-EX decks and others taking more CP than Turbo Darkrai. Volcanion and M Ray being so successful down there made…
Umbreon-GX and Adapting for a Smaller Metagame “Coming off of my Australian 2nd place performance, and given the overall strength of the deck, it was hard for me to consider playing anything other than Decidueye/Vileplume. However, I had been down this road before with Greninja, where I’m stubborn and refuse to adapt or change decks based on previous experiences rather than on results or reality. Don’t get me wrong, Decidueye is an incredibly strong deck, but every opponent I’m up against here in Mexico expected that deck from me. Thus, Wobbuffet and extra Hex Maniac, even in decks such as Volcanion, were becoming the norm. Other players…
Though it has a gentle disposition, it’s also very strong. It will quickly freeze the snowball on its head before going for a headbutt. (Galarian Darmanitan)
It spews sand from its nostrils. While the enemy is blinded, it burrows into the ground to hide. (Silicobra)
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